SOF Select – Sneak Peek Of Patagonia’s New Military Active Recce System

Not only did Patagonia’s MARS* get a whole new name, it got a complete makeover as well. This new version of MARS was developed under their Lost Arrow Project, an initiative to create special-purpose clothing systems for extreme environments by leveraging Patagonia’s deep expertise in materials innovation, technical design and precision manufacturing.

The developmental team was allowed a clean slate and developed the system from the ground up. Not only did they introduce new materials into this multigarment system, but they also introduced a new way that garments are worn together. For instance, the system is designed so that the user won’t wear anymore than three layers to get the desired effect. However, it’s important to umderstand that this is an active insulation system rather than a passive insulation system. This means that the wearer takes a more active role in pushing moisture out of the clothing.

In my opinion, it goes much more to heart of the original intent of Protective Combat Uniform than what is currently available. However, it is designed for Recce work, of longer duration and more extreme environments than the DA tasks most units are currently engaged in.

Here are a few more examples of garments in the line. These are prototypes and although some of you will fixate on their paintjob, they will be available in different solids and patterns. The garments range from FR Wool next-to-skin items, windshirts, insulating vest and jackets to waterproof breathable, fully seam taped overgarments. The designs are quite elegant, engineered really, to maximize mobility for the wearer and manufacturability for the producer.

I have to say, MARS is the most remarkable thing I have seen in military or outdoor clothing in many years. It isn’t just the design; it’s everything that goes into it. Everything you see here is Berry compliant, can be manufactured in short runs with short lead times, and is relatively low cost, especially considering those factors.

This entry was posted
on Thursday, May 18th, 2017 at 13:58 and is filed under Clothing, SOF Select.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I just order what my guys want, regardless of the pattern. Someone clue me in to what’s wrong with Kryptek, either as a pattern (aka “the Nickelback of camouflage) or as to why they are still in business. We have some of their rain gear and it seems as good as any of the other stuff we’ve tried, but if there are issues, I’d like to know for future reference. They seem alright to me, but I’m not the gear queer some folks on this site are.

In keeping with the topic above, we also use and appreciate our patagonia stuff.

Patagonia continues to impress me with the products they make and the way they carry themselves as a company. Unlike some other “boutique” outdoor brands, I have zero qualms about dropping big cash on their products.

There is also a mysterious force call inflation, and increasing materials costs, and increasing overhead, but patagonia is probably just run by some Mr. Burns character, hoarding money and laughing manically.

Jeremy, Who says Patagonia is anti-gun? The founder of Patagonia is a very avid outdoors man, and also served in the US Army. They support the SOF community, what does political ideology have to do with cutting edge textile innovation and durable functional clothing and equipment?

Lol… I love this thread. Patagonia rules. I don’t know why everybody has to be so concerned with what politics a company has. You can, in fact, be a conservative snowflake. If you don’t want to buy their stuff, then don’t… it really is that easy. Maybe we need a refresher course on just what being Berry Compliant means.

You would probably not need much moisture wicking if you are stationary for long periods of time. If you did, you would also not likely be wearing all the layers, which would also negate the need for the garment to have such property (as you would not be wearing it).